Columbia Gorge Geology Field Trip – May 5th

Skyline Health Foundation 211 Skyline Dr, White Salmon, WA, United States

Lloyd DeKay, president of the Columbia River Gorge Chapter of IAFI, has volunteered to lead a day-long presentation and field trip on June 1, 2024,  to explore the geology of the central-east portion of the Columbia River Gorge for winning donors at the Skyline Health Foundation's Cultivate Columbia fundraiser on April 13, 2024. The day will begin at 8:30 AM with a slide presentation about the origins and geohistory of the Gorge.  Then participants will board a bus for a 40+ mile roundtrip to see and discuss a number of uniquely interesting places and geologic features found in the Gorge between White Salmon and The Dalles. Basalt Pillows We'll see and discuss lahar deposits, kolk ponds, tree casts, differences between pillow basalts and Maar deposits, Ice Age Floods features, indigenous petroglyphs and even a brief trip through Africa USA. Lunch will be no-host at a local restaurant along the way. Maar Deposits This field trip is donated in support of the Skyline Health Foundation. The Cultivate Columbia fundraiser is currently sold out, so if you don't have tickets and you wish to participate, you should contact the foundation director, Elizabeth Vaivoda at 509-637-2602 for more details.

Columbia Gorge Geology Field Trip, June 1

Original Wasco Co. Courthouse Museum 410 W 2nd Pl., The Dalles, Oregon, United States

  Lloyd DeKay, president of the Columbia River Gorge Chapter of IAFI, has volunteered to lead a day-long presentation and field trip 0n June 1, 2024,  to explore the geology of the central-east portion of the Columbia River Gorge for participants from the Original Wasco County Courthouse Museum. The day will begin at 8:30 AM with a slide presentation about the origins and geohistory of the Gorge.  Then participants will board a bus for a 40+ mile roundtrip to see and discuss a number of uniquely interesting places and geologic features found in the Gorge between The Dalles and Hood River. Basalt Pillows We'll see and discuss lahar deposits, kolk ponds, tree casts, differences between pillow basalts and Maar deposits, Ice Age Floods features, indigenous petroglyphs and even a brief trip through Africa USA. Maar Deposits This field trip is donated in support of the Original Wasco County Courthouse Museum, so if you wish to participate please contact the organizer, Karl Vercouteren, kjverc@gmail.com, 541 980-6558 for more details. Lunch will be no-host at a local restaurant along the way.

Dust in the Cockpit: Volcanic Ash Aviation Hazards

Tualatin Heritage Center 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, United States

Dust in the Cockpit: Volcanic Ash Aviation Hazards - The 50-Year Effort to Mitigate Them
The 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption was a watershed moment in our understanding of volcanic eruptions and their hazards. Among the lesser-known events during that summer was the first documented case of in-flight engine damage from volcanic ash on May 25,1980. Two years later, a 747 nearly crashed in Indonesia when it flew into an ash cloud from Galunggung Volcano and lost power to all four engines. A similar event in December, 1989 at Redoubt Volcano, Alaska finally convinced meteorologists, air traffic regulators, and volcanologists that we need a global infrastructure to detect volcanic ash clouds and communicate their trajectory to aviators.

When Yellowstone was in Oregon: A Talk by Bill Burgel

White Salmon Valley Community Library 77 NE Wauna Ave, White Salmon, WA, United States

Bill Burgel, retired railroad geologist, will present a talk on "When Yellowstone was in Oregon", on Tuesday evening, July 30, beginning at 5:30 at the White Salmon Valley Community Library. Approximately 50 million years ago, an island the size of Iceland docked onto the west coast of North American. That island was formed similar to the formation of modern-day Iceland, which is being created by a relatively rare combination of mid-ocean ridge volcanism coinciding with a mantle plume. After colliding with the continent in the area of present-day Oregon, this Iceland-like land mass, now known as Siletzia (southern half) and Yakutat (northern half now in Alaska), was scraped off the subducting oceanic crust and imbedded on the west coast of the continent. As the North American continent continued moving westward the motion of now-attached Siletzia was reversed. But the motion of the mantle plume continued its relative motion in the eastward direction, creating volcanoes and calderas on the as the North American plate moved west over it. Bill will explain the circuitous path the plume took through Oregon, creating the Crooked River Caldera (including Smith Rock State Park), then into SE Oregon creating the voluminous Columbia River Flood Basalts before exiting Oregon around 16-million-years ago to form the McDermitt Volcanic area in Nevada, the home of one of the world’s largest lithium deposits. Afterward, the plume's relative path motion was directly through Idaho, forming the Snake River Plain, arriving at its current temporary location in Yellowstone. This saga, though geologically complex, is a fascinating one that will help you make sense of the new research into the 50 million year-long journey of the Yellowstone Hot Spot! Bill Burgel About Bill Burgel - Bill retired in 2010 after a successful 40-year career working for several railroads in both the engineering and operating departments. His work for Union Pacific encompassed the design of the first computer-aided dispatching office in the nation. This office was located in Portland and Bill was the Regional Chief Dispatcher for several years before the office was moved to Omaha. While working for the railroad, his interest and training in geology was often called upon to resolve landslide issues and rerouting studies, implement early earthquake warning strategies, and conduct numerous long railroad tunnel analyses. Bill has given numerous presentations on rail issues as well as earthquake preparedness and topics pertaining to regional geology to local audiences throughout the Pacific Northwest. After retiring from the railroad in 1989, he assisted the Surface Transportation Board as their rail operations manager for two major mergers, once in Washington DC and the second time in Chicago. Bill has managed many rail studies for both Oregon and Washington DOTs as well as for TriMet and Sound Transit in Seattle.

Dr. Vic Baker: Martian Megafloods: Investigating the Ice Age Floods Helped Understand Ancient Mars

Tualatin Heritage Center 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, United States

Thes relatively recent understanding of Ancient Mars was partly achieved because of geological studies of the ice age floods that created the Channeled Scablands landscape of eastern Washington. This talk will focus on some of Dr. Baker's personal experiences with the relevant geological investigations and discoveries of the past 55 years.

Mike Full, Dave Ellingson – “Paleontology Panel”

Tualatin Public Library 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, Oregon, United States

"Paleontology Panel" - The Willamette Valley Pleistocene Project - The river & landlocked search for Ice Age Fossils with Mike Full & Dave Ellingson, Moderator: Yvonne Saarinen Addington Thursday, September 26, 2024, Presentation 6:30-7:30PM Simultaneous/ZOOM presentation from the Tualatin Public Library, 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, OR 97062 Note: We must Depart Tualatin Public Library by 8PM Sharp!!! If you cannot attend in person, join us online. Click here to join zoom meeting Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: 322382 The Willamette Valley, at the time of the Ice Age Floods 18K-15K years ago, was backwater many times for massive floodwaters raging through the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. It became known as Temporary Lake Allison for the Geologist who first studied the Willamette Valley as a lake. The Willamette Valley Pleistocene Project explores the late Pleistocene and early Holocene of the Willamette Valley in Northwest Oregon. Comprised of local volunteers and resources, avocational paleontologists, land owners, and local government working alongside trained professionals and museum staff, the goal is to discover, study and preserve our prehistoric past. Mike, Dave and Yvonne are all members of this project. Every fossil is collected according to scientific standards, documented, stabilized and curated into a database open to the public. The entire collection is destined to stay within the public domain and will ultimately be donated to an appropriate educational institution. Mike Full David Ellingson Mike Full is a retired Police Officer and native Oregonian with a life long fascination of fossils and prehistoric life. Each summer finds him searching rivers in the Willamette Valley for fossils. He is accompanied by friends, students. volunteers and researchers. His fossil collection includes mammoth, mastodon, giant ground sloth, bison, horse, elk, camel, deer, giant beaver & wolf. David Ellingson, a biologist and paleontologist, teaches Paleontology at Woodburn High School. Here he has a dig going many years (25) for megafauna and fauna fossil bones which involves his students in summer months. Yvonne Addington Yvonne Addington is a native Oregonian. She has lived in Tualatin most of her life. In her public service career, she has worked for five Oregon Governors. She is Tualatin's first City Manager and had a role in the formation of the City. She also served for years as Municipal Judge. Her main interest has been preserving the history of the area, particularly fossil bones and erratic rocks of the Ice Age Floods. She's a member of the Tualatin/Willamette Ice Age Foundation. Yvonne is a Board Member of Willamette Falls Heritage Area Coalition representing LCC/ IAFI where she's on the Lower Columbia Chapter Board of Directors. Tualatin Mastodon She rediscovered the bones of the Tualatin Mastodon at Portland State University, which she then gave to the City of Tualatin where they are now on display on the Library's glass wall (see photo). The Mastodon bones were found and originally dug by PSU student John George near the creek South of Tualatin's Fred Meyer store.  

“Mega-Floods” – Presentation by Bill Burgel

Tualatin Heritage Center 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, United States

Bill Burgel In a field of geological investigation first identified and then pioneered by J Harlen Bretz, JT Pardee and Vic Baker, Mega-Floods have been recognized throughout the world and on the planet Mars. These catastrophic floods are quite capable of sculpting the landscape wherever they occur with disastrous consequences. Can they happen today? What are some notable historic examples? Is Noah's Flood one of these events? How are they different from Mega-Tsunamis that are also found around the globe? Bill will answer these questions and more at the October 24th meeting of the Lower Columbia Chapter of the Ice Age Institute. Thursday, October 24, 2024, In Person 6:45PM PDT at the Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062 ALSO Simultaneous Live ZOOM from THC if you cannot attend the THC meeting in-person. Click for Zoom meeting, Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: 322382. For more information contact: LowerColumbia@iafi.org

Mammoths of Coyote Canyon

Zoom Meeting

On Nov11, 2024, Join the Ice Age Floods Chapter Puget Lobe for a look at the Coyote Canyon (Mammoth) dig site: This site was originally discovered in 1999; but left undisturbed until 2008, with formal excavation beginning in September,2010.  The accompanied photo shows the work done thru Jun 2014.  In the intervening 10+ years additional work has completed.  As you can see by the photograph, the cinder block, 5-gal bucket, and the4x4 lumber bream, this may be a small portion of the overall site. The presentation will be Zoom only and given by IAFI Vice President Mr. Gary Kleinknecht.  Meeting starts at 7:00pm with sign-ins  starting  at 6:45. click on Zoom link:   https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730 Working Site as of June 2012

Dr. Scott Burns – Ancient Ice Age Floods Before the Missoula Floods

Zoom Meeting

Join in to Learn About The Unfolding Story of Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest Ages End - Stev Ominski We have had Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest over the past 2.8 million years. We mostly concentrate on the last ones which are called the Missoula Floods that happened between 15,000-20,000 years ago. But there is an unfolding story in the Pacific Northwest of many Ice Age Floods before the Missoula Floods. Erica Medley, an MS student of Scott Burns, did her thesis on the topic and discovered many outcrops of these ancient floods which are rarely discussed. Dr. Burns will talk about these oft-forgotten floods and the very interesting story of these neglected Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest Join on Zoom to learn more about these very interesting older Ice Age Floods, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024 at 7:00 PM (Pacific Time) Only on Zoom - Click Here to Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 867 5486 6921 Passcode: 342192 One tap mobile: +12532158782,,86754866921# Meeting ID: 867 5486 6921 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdugrTW42K Dr. Scott Burns taught geology for 54 years in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana before coming in 1990 to Portland State University. He loves talking about the geology of the Pacific Northwest and this subject that is so many times neglected. Professor Emeritus of Engineering Geology, Portland State University President IAEG (International Association of Engineering Geologist and the Environment) Member Board of Directors, Lower Columbia Chapter Ice Age Floods Institute. Co-Author revised Second Edition: "Cataclysms on the Columbia" Email: BurnsS@pdx.edu Telephone: (503} 725-3389 Website: http://dr-scott-burns.com

Geology Alive: Understanding Geologic Hazards in the Columbia Gorge

Columbia Center For the Arts 215 Cascade Ave, Hood River, OR, United States

The great scenic beauty of the Gorge owes much to the geological processes that have shaped it.  Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and debris flows still occur in the area today, and they can pose hazards to Gorge residents and visitors.  What is the scope, severity, and likelihood of these hazards?  How do scientists use evidence from the geological and historical past to evaluate the hazards, and how do they use models to forecast future hazards and inform our efforts to prepare for them? Join Dr. Richard “Dick” Iverson, Scientist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory, as he digs into the geological hazards of the Gorge—and explains why they don’t discourage him from living here! GET TICKETS HERE When: NOVEMBER 13th, 2024 | Doors 6pm, Show 7 pm Where: Columbia Center For the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave, Hood River, OR This event will be livestreamed on our Givebutter page: https://givebutter.com/geologyalive Doors open at 6 pm, show starts at 7 pm. * We encourage people to take their seats by 6:45. * Seats not filled by 6:45 will be made available to our waitlist. * Event tickets are non-refundable. Richard (Dick) Iverson spent 34 years as a research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., and he remains affiliated with the observatory as a scientist emeritus. His work there has focused mostly on the dynamics of landslides, debris flows, and volcanic eruptions, with particular emphasis on evaluating hazards downstream from Cascades volcanoes.  Iverson grew up in Iowa, received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, and moved from Vancouver to Hood River in 2018.